According to an analysis of documents conducted by Forbes, Trump’s business hauled in $2.4 billion during the four years he served as President of the United States. Some may question whether this is good news or bad news for Trump, but it’s neither. Trump’s business was hauling in about $650 million annually during the first three years of his presidency; however, with 2020 coming in with the pandemic in its arms, revenues plunged to an estimated $450 million with all businesses getting affected. A thorough digging through Donald Trump’s property records, ethics disclosures, debt documents, and securities filings shows an eyebrow-raising $2.4 billion made between January 2017 and December 2020.
Then again, it is worth noting that the $2.4 billion represents revenue, not profit. Interestingly, Trump made maximum money from his clubs and golf properties, bringing in about $940 million over his four years in the White House. To name a few, Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach club, made approximately $90 million. The Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey brought in about $60 million. The crown jewel of clubs was his Miami golf resort, the Trump National Doral, responsible for roughly $270 million of those earnings.
While his clubs did well despite a deadly pandemic, the same cannot be said for his hotel and licensing management businesses. His wealth dropped by more than $1 billion from the time he took office, resulting in him stumbling 300 points in the Forbes Billionaire rankings. He even desperately tried to sell his beloved Trump International Hotel Washington DC. While the hotel’s earnings reportedly remained steady at roughly $52 million from 2017 to 2019, Covid 19 causing revenues to drop to less than $20 million. Trump said in a March 2020 press conference at the White House, “It’s hurting me, and it’s hurting Hilton, and it’s hurting all of the great hotel chains all over the world. It’s hurting everybody. I mean, there are very few businesses that are doing well now.”
The only thing that worked well for Trump was his high-margin commercial real estate holdings as commercial tenants (many locked into long-term leases) continued to pay rent. In the San Francisco office building at 555 California Street, Trump holds a 30% stake where his rent increased last year, from $42 million to $43 million. Similarly, Trump’s haul progressed from about $55 million to $58 million at New York City’s 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Ever since Trump left the White House, sales across Trump properties have jumped significantly in 2021, albeit at much lower rates except in Florida.
[Via: Forbes]
